SUNY-Cortland former swim captain drowns during lifeguard test

A 22-year-old former college swim captain drowned Saturday in a lake on Cape Cod, Mass., according to multiple reports.

Jack Jakubek, a record-setting swim star and recent graduate from the State University of New York-Cortland, was swimming to a buoy as part of a routine fitness test for a lifeguarding job when he went underwater at 9 a.m., WCVB.com reports.

Divers found him offshore at 9:23 a.m., but attempts to resuscitate him failed and Jakubek was pronounced dead at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Mass., according to the website.

“As good of a swimmer as he was, he was an even better person,” Brian Tobin, the SUNY-Cortland men’s head swimming and diving coach, told The Boston Globe. “He was the kind of teammate that every teammate wants to have, and a swimmer that every coach wants in the pool.”

This was his second year returning to the summer lifeguarding job at Nauset Beach, Mass., and he planned to return to school to work as the swim team’s assistant coach, the Boston Globe reported.

“I knew I could depend on him for anything at any time,” Tobin told CNN. “Jack visited with me the day after graduation, and we talked about his plans for the summer, the next year and life in general. As he walked to the car, I remember being impressed by how he had everything planned out and put together for himself. It makes an unfathomable event like this even harder to comprehend.”

According to CNN, the Cape and Islands District Attorney is currently investigating Jakubek’s death.